subject/object questions

[hergest_ridge]

hello!!
my question is the following one: when you have a subject question e.g what says sandra about him?
can it be expressed as an object question?? I mean, in a formal way, could it be correct to say: What does Sandra say about him?

thank you!!!!

[Maelstrom44]

Yes, it would be perfectly correct to say that. It would also be more common to hear someone say what does Sandra say about him? than what says Sandra about him?

Also, what says Sandra about him? I believe is more formal.

[hergest_ridge]

ok!! thanks!!

[Loob]

Can you explain what you mean about "subject" and "object" questions, hergest_ridge?

I think that "What" is your example is the object of the verb "say" and "Sandra" is the subject:
Sandra (subject) says something (object) about him > What (object) does Sandra (subject) say about him?

What says Sandra about him? is incorrect, unless you are trying to sound poetic or archaic.

[hergest_ridge]

Loob, yes! This is a big mistake!! This cannot be a subject question, a subject question for me would be "what happened yesterday?" It was my fault!! the other one is poetic as you have written.

[GreenWhiteBlue]

I would not call "What says Sandra?" incorrect, but it is certainly archaic, and will get you very, very strange looks from most native speakers. The simple present is almost never used in asking questions in contemporary English; the emphatic present (that is, the present created through use of forms of "do") is used instead.

What think you of this?: grammatical, but natural only if you were born before A.D. 1650.
What do you think of this?: grammatical, and the way this would be said in A.D. 2009.

[Loob]

Originally Posted by hergest_ridge

Loob, yes! This is a big mistake!! This cannot be a subject question, a subject question for me would be "what happened yesterday?" It was my fault!! the other one is poetic as you have written.

Ah, I understand now how you are using "subject question"/"object question"

I agree that the "what" in What happened yesterday? is the subject of the verb "happened", and that What happened yesterday? is therefore a "subject question".

You could construct a "subject question" with "say ...about", if you wanted to. Imagine two women watching a man walking along the street, and having the following conversation:
Martha: He must be a schoolteacher.
Mary: Why? What says "schoolteacher" about him?
(Actually, though, that sounds a bit stilted: Mary would be more likely to say What is it about him that says "schoolteacher"?).

[hergest_ridge]

Thank you. I always learn with you.